Strategic Choice and Competitive Advantage of Private Universities in Nairobi County: A Case of Strathmore University
Keywords:
Strategic, Choice, Advantage, Alliances, Technologies, Differentiation, InitiativesAbstract
The business environment has witnessed several changes that have compelled managers to choose and adopt responsive strategies in order to remain relevant in the market. Strategic choice is the third logical element of the strategy formulation process. The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceived strategy choices that influence competitive advantage of private universities in Nairobi County. The study was informed by dynamic capability theory, innovation theory and porter’s theory. A descriptive research design was adopted and the target population was made of 15 private universities in Nairobi County; however, only Strathmore University was purposively selected for the study. The respondents of the study comprised of VCs, DVCs, deans, university teaching staffs and the university support staffs. The study used census approach to study the VCs and the DVCs since their numbers are manageable, purposive sampling was used to select a sample for deans and the university teaching staffs, while Yamane formula was employed in calculating the sample size for the university support staffs. The study used primary data which was collected using questionnaire. The quantitative data collected was analyzed with the aid of SPSS Version 26.0. The study found that strategic alliance had positive and significant effect on competitive advantage of private universities in Nairobi County (B =.288, p=.000<.05), technologies strategy had positive and significant effect on competitive advantage of private universities in Nairobi County (B =.194, p=.000<.05), product differentiation strategy had positive and significant effect on competitive advantage of private universities in Nairobi County (B =.244, p=.000<.05) and finally marketing initiatives strategy had positive and significant effect on competitive advantage of private universities in Nairobi County (B =.248, p=.000<.05). The study concluded that the strategic choices adopted by the study all had positive and significant effect on the competitive advantage of the university and that through strategic alliances, companies can improve their competitive positioning, gain entry to new markets, supplement critical skills, and share the risk and cost of major development projects. The study thus recommended that the management of private universities in Nairobi County and by extension other private universities in Kenya should always strive to adopt suitable strategic choices in an effort to improve on their competitiveness in the market that is facing serious competition.
Keywords: Strategic, Choice, Advantage, Alliances, Technologies, Differentiation, Initiatives
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